DK Readers L1: Dinosaur's Day

I've read over 30 dinosaur books aimed at young children. This is one of the best-written. That's because it avoids misleading statements and dull statistical facts. Instead, it emphasizes behavior, adaptations, and the broader ecological context. The book presents a pleasant narrative telling the day in the life of a Tricerotops. The sentences are simple, designed for beginning readers but nonetheless interesting. "...I spend all day eating plants. I snip off leaves and twigs with my sharp beak. I live in a group called a herd. We keep watch for fierce dinosaurs..." Along the way, the narrator mentions several other dinosaurs, each pictured and named by genus: * Ornithomimus * Edmontosaurus * Pachycephalosaurus * Parasaurolophus * Ankylosaurus And of course Tyrannosaurus, who is the villain of the piece. About a third of the story is devoted to an attack by this predator. The Tricerotops successfully fights him off, and nobody gets killed. The story should please most kids between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The book's weak point is it's illustrations. The book relies heavily on photographs of models--models which are often posed against a plain white background. The results feel rather lifeless. The few human-illustrated pages in the book appear to come from different stock sources (i.e., they aren't by the same illustrator). Ruth Thomson's clear and dramatic writing deserve better visual support. - Parenting Science

I've read over 30 dinosaur books aimed at young children. This is one of the best-written. That's because it avoids misleading statements and dull statistical facts. Instead, it emphasizes behavior, adaptations, and the broader ecological context. The book presents a pleasant narrative telling the day in the life of a Tricerotops. The sentences are simple, designed for beginning readers but nonetheless interesting. "...I spend all day eating plants. I snip off leaves and twigs with my sharp beak. I live in a group called a herd. We keep watch for fierce dinosaurs..." Along the way, the narrator mentions several other dinosaurs, each pictured and named by genus: * Ornithomimus * Edmontosaurus * Pachycephalosaurus * Parasaurolophus * Ankylosaurus And of course Tyrannosaurus, who is the villain of the piece. About a third of the story is devoted to an attack by this predator. The Tricerotops successfully fights him off, and nobody gets killed. The story should please most kids between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The book's weak point is it's illustrations. The book relies heavily on photographs of models--models which are often posed against a plain white background. The results feel rather lifeless. The few human-illustrated pages in the book appear to come from different stock sources (i.e., they aren't by the same illustrator). Ruth Thomson's clear and dramatic writing deserve better visual support.

Our son is actually enjoying learning to read with this one.

My son is dyslexic and finding books of interest to help him learn to read is hard. He loves dinosaurs and the pictures in this book are realistic. The text is 1st grade level (a little challenging for him)but he wants to try to read this one every night. Great choice for all young dino crazed readers.